Doubleplus ungood

I don't like online political forums. Reason: they're full of partisan parrots that can't, under any reason, have an open-minded debate. I have never found a discussion online about politics that ultimately didn't dissolve into name calling, hate spewing and a general false superior sense of "I'm right, you're wrong."

How can otherwise rational people believe their side is always right and the other guy is permanently wrong? You've seen the foolishness people write. A fair example would be from the comments people wrote here about the new movie with a conservative slant: "An American Carol."

Examples: "Reviwer is obviously a liberal that can't take a joke. I'm sure that he thinks the SNL skits of Palin are funny, but you can't touch his liberal buddies, thats mean. Give me a break."

"Hmmm, Let me guess, RENE RODRIGUEZ is hmmmm, a liberal..."

"I thought it was a great movie, Rene Rodriguiz, gee, sounds Mexican to me. Maybe she just doesn't like being an American, please, be my guest, get your butt back across the border. I felt very patriotic after watching this movie, she can't, at least, not for America."

Comments such as these are just a drop in the ocean of what passes for politics online, but they show how many of us feel. You are a "liberal" or a "conservative." There are no other words that define you, and if I'm one and you're the other, I despise you.

Maybe things are this way because of how our system is built. America's a two-party system; third parties don't get the play like they do in parliamentary governments. The party system of this country is our political language; we don't have words for someone who supports gun rights and also wants gun control. What do you call the guy who supports the war in Iraq and the legalization of all drugs?

Our system isn't yin-yang; it's us versus them, and that's not healthy for any of us. We're not having a robust, worthy conversation about politics in America when we have people who want to ship all the liberals away and others who want to cook the conservatives for dinner. This is a doubleplus bad situation for everyone.